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The Watering Hole; Friday January 29 2016; The Birds

Today I’ve decided to switch from politics to something interesting. My old College bud, Denny Green, has evolved to become, in his retirement, a dedicated nature/wildlife photographer. He recently visited a place in New Mexico called the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, a refuge considered to be parcel to that “national network of lands and waters set aside to conserve America’s fish, wildlife, and plants.” It is clearly a haven for wild birds, a haven which I would consider comparable in design and purpose to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon — but since this post is politics-free, I won’t even mention that place up there.

Anyway, here are some selected early ‘winter’ photos, taken by Denny Green at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in western New Mexico. They are of the waterfowl most prevalent at the time, i.e. Sandhill Cranes and two varieties of Snow Geese.

–And to bird-lover Ebb, wherever you might be, enjoy!!–

Sandhill Cranes, sunrise, at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico

Bosque del Apache Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Crane

Ross’s Geese, Bosque del Apache

Snow Geese, mating pair

Meanwhile, back in Arizona, some rare ducks popped up late last month at a secluded pond not far from the greater-Phoenix metro area. The first fellow has shown up — alone –each of the last two years. Where he comes from and where he goes, no one knows.

Eurasian Wigeon

American Wigeons, mating pair

Finally, this ‘Red Head Duck’ mating pair, also from a secluded pond in Maricopa County Arizona.

Red Head Ducks, mating pair

So there you have it: waterfowl from a National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, also some relatively rare ducks from an isolated pond in otherwise human-crowded Maricopa County, Arizona.

24 thoughts on “The Watering Hole; Friday January 29 2016; The Birds”

It seems that, over at The Washington Post, a once-great newspaper now doing business as an adjunct to the home delivery industry, Fred Hiatt’s Workshop For Ghastly Writing is getting a little run for this editorial in which Bernie Sanders is posed as the Lord Mayor Of Munchkinland. There’s nothing like the scorn of the Church Of The Savvy. To borrow a comparison from the late Molly Ivins, it’s like being gummed by a newt. Folks, leave the snark to the professionals, OK? Anyway, it seems that Fred and his minions find Sanders’ proposals to be unrealistic, an insight now shared by almost every putatively liberal pundit, as well as every gas station attendant between Des Moines and Ottumwa. Let’s look at the argument, shall we?

A little overseas action here – Daily Vertical’s Brian Whitmore’s Russia watch – sometimes he just wants to laugh at what passes for Putin and Lavrov’s blatant falsehoods. This is the week that Putin was called out by the UK government as a stone-cold killer and Lavrov argued that a invasion without using nuclear weapons wasn’t an invasion at all. And that’s before the subject of corruption in government and athletics comes up. Anyhow, Brian covers the Eastern European scene succinctly and with insight every day. He’s on my list.

“This is why I’m endorsing Ted Cruz and I’m going out this weekend” to Iowa, he said. “If I could change one mind, I am not going to sit at home because I know what the consequences are.”

I was going to comment on this, but either can’t find the words or don’t see the use in it anyway. Maybe I’ll just leave it by saying I hope Beck heads to Israel, and that he takes Ted Cruz with him. I could cheer, then.

The Armageddon Beck fears would occur with the blessing of the evil right wing conservative movement.

Stephen Colbert had Erin Brockovich on last night commenting about Flint’s water problem. She said Wisconsin, Ohio and Louisiana also have areas with lead contamination in their water and gave reasons for nationwide concern over our water supply infrastructure.

When I was a kid, seems to me all water pipes were lead, galvanized to keep the water clean. I don’t know what metal pipe that ain’t copper is made from today — most I’ve seen in stores is made in China, so who would know?

In re infrastructure, my best guess is that water pipes all over the country will have to be replaced, based on corrosion/lead content in the water. Republicans will be as excited over that as they are about bridges and highways — costs way too much, will disallow corporate and rich folks the tax breaks they so desperately need. So, who really cares anyway. By the time the shit hits the fan, “we’ll all be dead.”

For example, in the epilogue to his father’s recent book, Cruz writes, “What we are really seeing is an increasing hostility to religious liberty, and to Christians in particular.” And he pledges that on his first day in office he would instruct every federal agency “that the persecution of religious liberty ends today.”

Religious Americans are under such threat from intolerant secular humanists, Cruz declared last week, “We’re just steps away from the chisels at Arlington coming out to remove crosses and Stars of David from tombstones.” That statement is ridiculous on its face, but it matches the intensity of Religious Right leaders’ rhetoric about what they say is the impending “criminalization of Christianity” in America.

“Religious Freedom,” to creeps like Cruz, allows the imposition of “Christian” belief/dogma on everyone else, whether they accept or not. It’s a poisonous bias, not at all unlike that which we are all taught to hate and fear in Iran, Syria, ___________ (name it).

When the hell will these nitwits ever get a grip on the reality that what they believe means shit to people with a functioning mind?

Never. Right.

If Cruz ever wants to see some genuine “hostility to religious liberty,” all he has to do is knock on my door.